In medicine, a catheter is a device that can be inserted into a body cavity, duct, or vessel, such as a blood vessel. This process of inserting a catheter can be referred to as a catheterization. When a catheter is left inside the body of a patient, either temporarily or permanently, this can be referred to as an indwelling catheter. Further, a permanently inserted catheter can be referred to as a “Permcath”.
By being adapted for insertion, catheters can allow for the drainage or injection of fluids. Additionally, catheters can also allow for access within a patient for surgical instruments, among other functions. In most uses, a catheter is a thin, flexible tube, which can be referred to as a “soft” catheter. In other uses, a catheter can be a larger, solid or “hard” catheter.
Incidence of esophageal and stomach cancers continue to increase globally. Often these cancer patients die without proper diagnosis and/or treatment. For localized cancers, tumors can be first shrunk with the help of a high dose rate brachytherapy device employing appropriate applicators. This can be followed by surgical, chemotherapeutic and/or biological agents for mediated targeted therapeutic procedures. The positioning and targeting of a radiation dose to a site of disease with minimal and/or no damage to normal nearby tissue can be a challenge. Therefore, it is desirable to have a catheter that can provide multiple functions and can also be positioned and targeted for delivering the radiation dose to a specific area of the patient, such as a stomach area, the prostrate and the uterus, among other examples.
Thus, a dual balloon catheter addressing the aforementioned problems is desired.